On March 1, 2023, NLRB Administrative Law Judge Michael A. Rosas issued a decision finding Starbucks had violated the National Labor Relations Act hundreds of times to affect workers’ organizing efforts through “egregious and widespread misconduct demonstrating a general disregard for the employees’ fundamental rights.”
His decision requires Starbucks to—among other remedies—reinstate unlawfully fired workers and, if they are unable to return, instate qualified applicants of the union’s choice; reimburse workers for consequential harm they suffered as a result of Starbucks’s unlawful conduct; union access and equal time to respond; post a notice electronically, including on all forms of social media, and at all U.S. stores and with an explanation of workers’ rights; bargain with the union; reopen an unlawfully closed facility; conduct ongoing training; and have Starbucks Execs Howard Schultz and Denise Nelson read the Notice to Employees and an Explanation of Rights or be present during a reading by a Board agent to the employees in the Buffalo-area stores.
Judge Rosas also ordered a Gissel Bargaining Order at Starbucks’ Camp Road Store in Buffalo, explaining that “[t]he unprecedented incursion of the Respondent’s highest-level corporate executives into Buffalo-area stores was relentless and likely left a lasting impact as to the importance of voting against representation.”
“Judge Rosas’s decision clearly recognizes the crucial importance of ensuring that Starbucks...
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) recently revised the Justice Manual to reinstate previous agency policy on how it will enforce False Claims Act (FCA) cases moving forward, and when it will see...